Wet weather delays crop planting in W.Va.

May 13, 2011

CHARLESTON (AP) - Farmers across West Virginia haven't been able to plant their crops because of wet weather.

About 45 percent of the total planned acreage has been plowed this year, about half the typical acreage, said Buddy Davidson, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture.

Farmers have planted about 10 percent of the state's corn crop. Normally, about 43 percent of the crop is planted by now, he said.

"Most people are sitting on what they have, waiting on a spell of weather dry enough to get out and do farm work," Davidson told the Charleston Daily Mail. "We're seeing farmers who cannot get their tractors into their field to get their stuff in the ground."

John Payne, who operates Payne Produce near Point Pleasant, said he normally would have 15 acres of corn and 8,000 tomatoes planted. This year, he has a half-dozen acres of corn and 3,000 tomatoes planted.

"There's so much water in the ground, you may have to have three days without rain to do much work. The ground has a certain amount of clay on it and if you get on this clay ground when it's wet, it turns into cement," he told the newspaper.

Davidson said there's still time for planting but farmers could see losses if the wet weather continues.

"This week is critical. The next week will really be critical. You can plant for quite a while, but that means it doesn't mature until later," he said.

The wet weather has prevented Eddie Morgan from cutting the high-quality hay that he grows on his cattle farm near Piney. He said the hay's quality will suffer if it stays in the ground too long, hindering his ability to sell it to other farms.